Pages

Posts

By January of 2006 the project had the basics. It was time to add the signature abilities. Every time I added a new move, even basic stuff, I tested it. I made a test level for each one, so I could test the new ability in every possible situation. Once everything was working correctly, I compared it to the original games to do some fine tuning.

For example, I added the MorphBall. It´s simple, but it required the following items to work correctly:Change Samus´ collision so she is actually smaller and can fit small holes.Add a morph and unmorph animation.To morph correctly the crouch state change must be working, so you morph by double tapping Down. Rolling on the ground and falling in the air have different animations.Samus can morph and unmorph in the air. She also needs a double tap (one to aim down, one more to morph).Morphing or unmorphing in mid-air resets the speed.Whenever you unmorph you should check if there is enough room above to fit Samus.Falling from a determined height mak…

December 2005, the game is starting to shape.It took almost a week to understand the engine, and to start modifying it without beaking anything. I tweaked the animation system, now it flipped the sprites instead of having a left and right version of every sprite. I added the first custom states: Morphball and Spinjump.

One of the first test rooms. Trying out the Morphball.The new states worked really well. But before adding anything else the few elements already done should be working correctly. So, instead of adding more abilities, I tweaked Samus´ physics to make the game feel right. Emulation is a great tool to understand how things are made in games. So, I used VBA to take a closer look to basic things. I took frame by frame snapshots of the basic actions, then arranged them using Paint Shop Pro and compared the changes between frames. This revealed how fast Samus runs, how many frames does it take to morph, powergrip, etc. The initial running acceleration. The powergrip animation, v…

Designing a game is challenging. It requires the designer to know exactly what he's looking for in the game even before writing the first line of code. In order to make a succesful Metroid game, I had to study all the games, understand how they work, and then design my version.

When I contemplated the idea of a remake, I did the most obvious research first: Play the original again. I have to recognize, I kinda cheated. I played it on a Super GameBoy cartridge, instead of the original GameBoy. Most of the atmosphere and desperation was lost because of playing in a comfortable TV, just because batteries are really expensive here in Argentina.I also used a printed version of a map I found in GameFaqs, so I didn't get too lost.

It was a great experience to play it again so many years later, suddenly the game was a lot easier than before, except of course the final battle. Playing with a B&W color sheme and the lights off is quite a trip.

Ok, I'll show you the current state of the project. Anyway, this is all I'm gonna show you until I manage to make a trailer video. These screenshots compare the original gameboy places with my version.

Some aspects of the game design:

- The game will be as linear as the original. No open exploration, you HAVE to kill the Metroids of each area like in the original. However, I'm thinking of adding a Time Attack mode, with a lot more freedom to explore.- Right now it plays a lot like Zero Mission. The upgrades available are the following:MorphBallMissilesSuper MissilesPowerBombsSpider BallPowerGripSpeedBooster (complete with Shinespark)JumpBallHi JumpScrewAttackSpace Jump- Spider Ball works just like the original one. It can grip in any surface, but it's really slow.- PowerGrip has more animation frames than Zero Mission.Weapons:Charge BeamIce BeamSpazer BeamWave BeamPlasma Beam- The beams can be stacked. Each one can be turned on/off on the fly. All four can be active at t…

Hi. My name is Milton. I live in Argentina, where I work as a sound technician in my own recording studio. This is a project I've been working on for over two years, and now I feel it can be finished, so I decided to make it public.

This is my own remake of Metroid 2, one of the most important chapters of the Metroid saga. I always wanted to play the game with the graphics and physics of Metroid Zero Mission. So, I decided my next game would be a remake.

During the next weeks, I'll share with you the progress so far. I'll post screens from the very beginning of the project, until its present state. I also documented some of the most important aspects of the game design.

<- This, for exampe, is one of the early test builds. I am using Game Maker 6, and used Martin Piecyk's Platform Game template as a starting point. His excellent engine provided solid platform physics, and state based characters. The engine is also easily customizable, so I could add all the states I ne…